


Running away? From who? And why?

by cherrylng



Category: Aoi -168-, Aoi from Ayabie, Ayabie (Band)
Genre: AU, Angst, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-20
Updated: 2013-09-20
Packaged: 2017-12-27 03:17:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/973667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrylng/pseuds/cherrylng
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been more than half a year ago. Running away from what you’re scared will hurt you. It already did, didn’t it? Isn’t that why you took that last ounce of strength you’ve got to run while you can, and leave everything behind except for the clothes on your back and your passport? Are you scared that it hurts you because you will be trapped with him as long as you live, or are you scared that because you love him, that you can’t run away from the idea of settling down with him? Now he’s here. Are you going to run again? This time where are you running?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Running away? From who? And why?

**Author's Note:**

> _“What goes by the name of love is banishment, with now and then a postcard from the homeland, such is my considered opinion, this evening.”_ – Samuel Beckett, “First Love” (1973)

The wave’s crash and roll from the distance of a nearby beach, acting like an alarm clock that slowly wakes him up. He had already switched the actual one off the night before. The weather is already warming up so quickly around here, but still not enough to stop him from using the fan. He sits up and stretches before going to wash himself up and prepare breakfast.  
  
It was fortunate that today is his day off. Unfortunately, he woke up after a dream that involved him and Kenzo. He hadn't thought of him much since moving to Ishigaki, but the dream of being with him, kissing and touching each other while on the beach was too vivid for him to forget about the man he fell in lo--  
  
Aoi snaps himself out of it. It's already more than half a year, he's far away from everybody else who knew of what's between him and Kenzo. He even threw away his phone towards the sea as the first thing he did as soon as he had arrived on the island. Far away from Tokyo, far away from the troubles that accumulated there, and far away from Kenzo.  
  
He sighs and scratches his head. "What the hell, it's been long enough. Get out of my thoughts."  
  
He sets his simple breakfast of eggs, sausage and toast with a mug of coffee on a small table outside of his home. Situated on a hill close to the beach via concrete steps towards it, a day off with breakfast and a view is a good thing for Aoi, seemingly able to make his simple meal taste better.  
  
The wind chime played a simple tune from a soft breeze coming from the sea. It felt nice to be here. He didn't exactly like holidays around here, but the simple things that happen around the area makes everything rhythmic, so easy to adapt and fall into a routine. Working days involved working in a nearby izakaya that's sleepy during the day and off-peak seasons but boisterous come night or when the tourists come. Day offs turned into simpler times where he either goes to the beach or visits the nearest town for groceries.  
  
Today he decided that the beach is calling for him. Leaving his emptied plate and mug behind on the table, he simply walked down the flight of stairs towards the beach. It's early in the morning, so there are not many people around to bother him. A swim in the salty waters would be good.  
  
Diving into the clear blue ocean, everything somehow looks beautiful in blue. It didn't matter what, because with the sunlight shining down around the surrounding areas of wherever he swims, cyan is making everything close to him shine out and anything beyond his sight a mystery as endless as the ocean itself. Blue seems to compliment everything in the sea.  
  
 _"Everything around you compliments you too."_  
  
He swam up to the surface and tossed his head back. Why did he remember what Kenzo told him? He was persistent around him, and now he's still as persistent even in his mind. That dream is doing him things. He thought he had left behind everything that reminds him of Kenzo. Fate has other ideas and is telling him otherwise.  
  
Stepping out of the waters and settling himself down on the sands to dry himself out, he can't help but feel like his day off will get worse. If Kenzo can intrude his mind, is there a chance that he will intrude the physical world?  
  
Footsteps were picked up by his ears and he turns his head to where the person is coming from. He sat up immediately. He spoke too soon, and now the devil's here, walking towards him.  
  
“I thought you didn’t like beaches,” is the first thing he says as soon he’s close to Aoi, as though fearing that it will give Aoi a head start to run off. He simply stayed on where he is; never doing any move except letting his eyes follows Kenzo’s moves.  
  
“I like them,” Aoi answers back. “It’s just that I don’t go to beaches often back then.”  
  
“While I like going to beaches,” Kenzo chuckled, sitting down right beside him and taking out the box of cigarettes from his pocket that Aoi has seen him done so many times before.  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
"Nothing," Kenzo tries to pause from his chuckling, relaxing down before he admits, "it's just that of all the places that I've been searching around for you, finding you in the southern part of Japan and living close to the beach is the least likely place that I ever thought I could find you at."  
  
"Now you found me," Aoi mutters, letting his eyes get distracted by the sea instead of the sudden appearance of his ex-lover whose looks have changed to a degree, his hair cut short and dyed blond and now sporting a goatee. It was true from what Kenzo told him. He could've gone anywhere with the money he has saved up, to somewhere in Northern Europe. Instead, with his passport, the clothes on his back and the money on his account, he took the first plane and it landed in Ishigaki of all places. However, it hid him quite well until now; a place that he was not likely to run away to became the place that no one expects of him to be at, especially for Kenzo. "What are going to do with me?"  
  
"I want to talk to you," Kenzo says without hesitation. That pulled Aoi's attention away from the sea and to his eyes that were determined and full of emotions that Aoi's doesn't know which one wants to go first to show to him. "I want us to talk, and I want answers to be known."  
  
"Okay..." He was caught now. He's not going to run. He knows his disappearance has eaten on Kenzo as much as it did on him. He deserves to know of what he has thought of him throughout the time they were apart. "You can go first. You looked worried."  
  
“That's because I have been trying to find you for so long. Did you think that telling Takehito that you're leaving leaves me the only one to worry? Everybody else did!" Kenzo quickly took a pause to suck on his cigarette, almost too close to yelling at Aoi. Aoi knew that he was never good at emotions, trying to force down any negative ones that would overwhelm him. Finally, he asks Aoi the question he's wanted to ask. "Why did you leave?"  
  
There was no why did he run away, or why did he left everything behind and disappeared from his world. There’s not even a begging or demand of “come home with me”. Just the question of why did he left him. Now, the brunt of the pain is back; back from where Aoi thought he buried away some time ago. He hurt Kenzo. He hurt those few he called his friends. He hurt himself. But didn't it hurt for as long as he has lived?  
  
"I was your toy, you'll get bored of me and throw me away," he tries to hold back the tears that is accumulating on his eyes, every hurtful words that he has put upon himself because of how he viewed of what he is between him and Kenzo. "Did you think that a toy with a heart would take it once he knows that he'll get thrown away? It's easier for a toy to run while he can.”  
  
The short silence between was cut short by Aoi now crying, letting out the fears of his past to tell Kenzo of what he thought of their position in a relationship. Kenzo was high in power, while Aoi was down below, heart locked up to protect himself.  
  
"Is that what you thought of our relationship as?" Kenzo pulled his chin up to look at him, and only him. Those eyes that then looks serious if you look at them, and still are. "Did you think that I saw you as a toy?"  
  
"You were getting engaged," Aoi sniffled, trying his best to look away from those eyes. "Your secretary told me about it. The loss of an important client for your business that hurts your finances; then an engagement that would make you two become a power couple in the business and fashion industries. It's not as though putting 2 plus 2 is hard. I was in the way. I was a toy for you."  
  
Kenzo wiped his tears away, scooting closer and closer to Aoi that they were at skin on skin contact. "Look at me, please."  
  
He didn't sound angry. When Aoi looked back at him, he doesn't even look angry. He looked like he was in pain, but at the same time he wanted to comfort him.  
  
"My relatives were persistent. So you should've not trust any rumours that they say. Even my gullible secretary falls for it. He's worried about the actions I've done, so I can't blame him for acting for what he did and say," Kenzo explains, wiping away any tears that appear. "When I brought you that first time, it was only your body and looks. But what I wanted more than any riches in the world was you. Your heart, you soul, your body; I want nothing but you.  
  
"Did you think that it was easy for a man like me to lock away my heart? You are my toy, but I want to keep you, because you're my treasure. I never let go of treasures that mean so much to me."  
  
Their faces are close to each other, and all that Aoi wanted is to kiss him. Their lips met each other, and from there neither one of them stopped this action. It feels so... liberating to do this. All those worries from the past are all gone now. The confessions were the final keys to unlock their hearts. Nothing hurts anymore. Aoi has found what he thought he had been so scared of but now comes to accept: the comfort between them. The fear that their constant contact between each other will turn into something more and it will eventually make them settle down, tethered to the rail with a train coming to wreck him down. However, he chose to tie himself on the rail, which his decisions were what told him that he loves this man, stubborn and confusing as he may be, but he couldn't have asked for anything else from him. Except for one thing.  
  
"You have my heart, but my body costs 10 million yen, in cash. I don't come cheap," Aoi says, pushing Kenzo away to smirk at him. What he expected in return is Kenzo smirking back.  
  
"10 million? That's cheap coming from someone like you," he retorted back.  
  
"What can I say? I don't come cheap selling my body and looks, but I get to decide the price." They both looked at each other fondly before continuing their make out session. Sex on the beach is not what Aoi has in mind, so he pulls Kenzo up to take him to his home up on the hill to continue what they were doing, only this time in the shower, then on a wall in the living room, then finally in the bedroom.  
  
He misses this. The round after round of sex, the fatigue and soreness that comes after, the close contact between him and Kenzo, and the musky smell that Kenzo has both from the cologne he uses and from his body. Those little imperfections that happened during the intercourse that made it just...  _perfect_. They did it for 2 days straight, only stopping for food, washing themselves up, non-sexual activities and cuddling. It was definitely longest time since he had sex since he had left Tokyo, and the sexual frustration showed itself out several times. It was probably the same story with Kenzo.  
  
Aoi wakes up by the dawn of their third day together. His body aches in a good way that reminds him every time he's with Kenzo. The bedroom that he has lived in for almost the past year now smells even more like home than ever. Moving his body to get closer to Kenzo easily woke the man up who smiles at the first thing he loves to see in the morning. Yes, Aoi misses seeing Kenzo in the morning.  
  
"This beach house is small. I can buy you a bigger and better one, somewhere in the Mediterranean, close to France or Italy. Maybe in Croatia, good wine there," he mutters.  
  
"I like this one that I'm living in. I bought it with my own money. All it needs is a better air conditioner," Aoi pulled his hand out of the blanket to wrap it on Kenzo's hips, pulling himself closer for a kiss.  
  
"You're right. I'll find the best one in the market and install it here for you. It's hot here."  
  
"I thought you like the beach."  
  
"Love the waters. Hate the heat of living in a tropical place."  
  
They kissed and cuddled for a few times before Kenzo pulls away just to look at him.  
  
"Are you going to run again?" he asks. It doesn't take long for Aoi to answer.  
  
"Yes," he says, taking a deep breath. It didn't surprise Kenzo, knowing his tendency to avoid him. The next sentence did surprise him, though. "I'm going to run, but this time back with you."  
  
He used the last ounce of his strength to run away from him the last time. This time he's going to use the last few ounces of his strength to run back to Kenzo. And he will not regret it, running back to where home is. The sounds of the waves crashing and rolling against the beach are never far away from here, but at the moment, he’s already home, isn't he?  
  
  
END

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the story is inspired by a manga called Leopard Hakusho, and for a simple warning, IT IS NSFW. It’s hard, it’s hot, it’s sweaty, and it’s sex that will leave you sore but wanting for more. But the story’s not bad, so I give credit for that. Go ahead, and spiral down into insanity just like I did. http://mangafox.me/manga/leopard_hakusho/
> 
> Also, this story has a sequel/prequel of sorts. So what you're reading is the ending, and slowly reversing back towards the the beginning to understand more and more on what happened.


End file.
